https://uncwsports.com/news/2021/4/1/bas...-elon.aspx
Baseball 4/1/2021 10:17:00 PM Tom Riordan
Baseball Preview: Elon
It's a rematch of the 2019 CAA Championship participants
WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Seahawks continue conference play this weekend with a three-game series beginning Friday against rival Elon. The series kicks off with a 6 p.m. start at Brooks Field on Friday and continues Saturday with a 4 p.m. start and concludes on Sunday at 1 p.m.
UNCW (13-8, 2-4 CAA) dropped 2-of-3 last weekend at Charleston, winning the first game behind CAA Pitcher of the Week Landen Roupp, but came up short in the second and third games.
Elon (6-11), meanwhile, will be playing the first conference games of the season. The Phoenix split a pair of games with nationally-ranked East Carolina last weekend at Latham Park. ECU won the opener, 15-0, but the Phoenix topped the Pirates, 2-1, in the second game of the weekend series.
Roupp was named CAA Pitcher of the Week for the first time this season after delivering six shutout innings in a 6-1 win at Chartleston. Roupp will make the start Friday and will be followed by Luke Gesell and Ryan Calvert.
This weekend's series will be streamed on FloSports.tv and will be audio streamed by 95.9FM The Breeze. Links can be found on the baseball schedule page.
As a reminder, UNCW's game on Apr. 6 at Coastal Carolina has been postponed due to Covid protocols within the Chanticleer program.
https://seahawkperch.substack.com/p/seah...he-ship-vs
Seahawks Look to Right the Ship vs. Elon
UNCW returns to Brooks Field for a CAA series
Brant Wilkerson-New
9 hr ago
UNCW (13-8, 2-4) vs. Elon (6-11, 0-0)
Fri. 6 p.m. (Flo) | Sat. 4 p.m. (Flo) | Sun. 1 p.m. (Flo) | Listen | Game Notes |
After sitting on a tough, walk-off loss for the past four days, there will be no long bus ride, no strange hotel, and perhaps most importantly, no unfamiliar ballpark to deal with.
After two uneven weeks on the road in CAA play, the Seahawks are back home for a three-game set vs. Elon, and hopefully, a little sunshine and Brooks Field will provide the cure for what’s been ailing UNCW since conference play began.
Landen Roupp (2-2, 3.53), dominant in his past three starts, takes the ball for the opener on Friday evening, with Luke Gesell (2-2, 3.73) in his usual Saturday spot and freshman Ryan Calvert (1-0, 3.94) starting Sunday’s finale.
Here’s what to watch for as the Seahawks look to win a league series for the first time this season:
Meet the Phoenix
Starting pitchers: RHP Joe Savino (0-0, 3.71); RHP Spencer Bauer (1-1, 2.95); TBA
Top hitters: Alex Iadisernia (.388, 3 2B, 4 HR, 9 RBI); Cole Reynolds (.300, 2 HR, 10 RBI); Willie Havens (.222, 3 2B, 4 HR, 9 RBI); Anthony Galason (.254, 5 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI); Griffin Arnone (.316, 2 2B, 2 RBI).
Maybe the third time’s a charm for Elon?
The Phoenix have twice attempted to get their CAA schedule underway against James Madison, but both times, the series ended up getting canceled — including a bizarre situation last weekend when the programs instead scheduled nonconference matchups.
It’s been an odd season for the Phoenix, which has played 10 of its 17 games against UNC Greensboro and VCU it has attempted to piece together a schedule amid COVID-19 concerns.
To make things even more challenging, Elon has been without star pitcher Jared Wetherbee, a preseason All-CAA pick, since his start on Feb. 27 and the lefthander isn’t listed as a probable starter for this weekend.
Iadisernia, working from the clean-up spot, has been the Phoenix’ best hitter this season, and thanks to only striking out eight times in 76 plate appearances, has an on-base percentage of .461 and has scored runs nearly half the time he’s gotten on.
In addition, Havens has plenty of power while Galason can cause issue with his speed.
Playing Clean
The UNCW team that got off to an 11-3 start at home isn’t the one that’s gotten off the bus in Williamsburg and Charleston.
At Brooks Field, the Seahawks have been a team that does the little things right to win baseball games — making routine defensive plays, turning double plays, taking advantage of every opportunity, and occasionally, even making highlight-reel plays look routine.
A talented defensive team that has committed just 11 errors over 15 home games has seen its mistakes snowball on the road, with seven errors in six games playing a part in Charleston and William & Mary scoring 15 unearned runs.
In all, UNCW has surrendered just nine unearned runs at home, with six of those coming in two games.
Expect the Seahawks to get back to taking care of the basics this weekend thanks to a familiar surface and a little help from what should be a strong home crowd on what should be a beautiful — but maybe a bit chilly — wekeend.
Hot Bats
The offense took a step forward at Charleston, and there’s probably still even more room for improvement if the Seahawks can do a better job of moving runners.
UNCW has gotten consistent hitting at the top of the lineup all season from the likes of Brooks Baldwin (.351, 6 HR, 20 RBI), Kip Brandenburg (.385, 3 HR, 12 RBI) and Matt Suggs (.292, 7 HR, 19 RBI).
Not only have a few of those guys hit a hot streak lately, but the bottom of the order has picked things up too, with Noah Bridges and Trevor Marsh each getting a hit in every game of the Charleston series.
Baldwin was 5-14 with two doubles, a homer and six RBI vs. Charleston, while Suggs blasted two homers and had four RBI.
Bridges and Marsh, who each had five hits in Charleston, getting hot adds another dimension. Both have a little pop, and more importantly, both add more offensive options for a skilled bunter like Taber Mongero (.306), who has been a great situational hitter with five sacrifices this season.
When Bridges gets on, he’s almost money in the bank to score, putting up 13 runs in the 18 times he’s been on base this season. Marsh has been solid too, coming around to score seven runs in 16 times on base.
Law of Averages
With Roupp’s early-season struggles out of the way, Gesell surrendered a season-high five earned runs in last Saturday’s start, while four unearned runs torpedoed what had been a solid start vs. William & Mary.
In six weekends this season, the best 1-2 punch in the CAA has only been at its best one time, vs. Appalachian State.
Gesell’s command has been tremendous this season, walking at total of three batters in 31.1 innings while giving up 13 earned runs. Ultimately, bad luck (seven unearned runs) and a few bad pitches (four home runs) have kept him from a dominant season to this point.
As one of this team’s leaders, expect the senior to make adjustments and bounce back in a big way with the Seahawks in need of a series win.
Even-Keeled
Obviously, the CAA schedule hasn’t gotten off to the start that anyone was expecting after UNCW dominated East Carolina on March 17.
At that point, the Seahawks looked every part of the CAA preseason favorite thanks to talented pitching from top to bottom and a great mix of speed, power and situational hitting up and down the lineup.
Since then, it’s been a stretch of five losses in seven games by a total of seven runs, but UNCW coach Randy Hood doesn’t see major cause for concern.
“We easily could have flipped the script and won both series or we could have gotten swept in both series or we could have swept both series,” he said. “It’s amazing how close how all six of those games have been.”
Rather than wholesale changes, it’s instead just a matter of shoring things up.
“I like where we’re at right now,” Hood said. “We’ve just got to clean up a few things an keep working hard. Guys are practicing hard, doing everything we’re asking them to and we’ll be fine — a lot of games left.”
In addition this home series vs. Elon, the Seahawks will play home-and-home with James Madison, visit Elon and play host to both Charleston and William & Mary.
Base Hits
UNCW leads the all-time series vs. Elon 42-31, including a victory in the last meaning between the teams in the 2019 CAA Championship.
The Seahawks are 11-4 at home this season and 19-7 under Hood.
Although Brandenburg’s 22-game hitting streak came to an end on Sunday, he was hit by a pitch and walked to extend his on-base streak to 25 games.
Baldwin and Suggs also have 11-game on-base streaks.
Opposing batters are hitting .066 vs. Hunter Hodges an .137 against Adam Smith this season.
Seahawk pitchers have not committed a balk this season.
Suggs has zero errors on 137 chances behind the plate while also gunning down 7 of 16 attempted base-stealers.
UNCW batters have struck out 41 times and walked 13 in six CAA games.
Baldwin ranks third nationally with three triples, while his 64 total bases rank 17th.
